India blames Kyoto failure
INDIA: India said Thursday it was committed to fighting
climate change but called developed nations' failure to implement the
Kyoto Protocol the "single biggest issue" facing multilateral talks.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh reiterated India's desire to reach
a global agreement at the upcoming UN summit in Copenhagen, but said it
was "unfair" to blame developing countries for high carbon emissions
when rich nations had failed to fulfill their obligations under the
Kyoto Protocol. India wants "a meaningful international agreement that
all countries will take seriously and implement, unlike Kyoto where
countries took on legal obligations and reneged on them," Ramesh told a
briefing of foreign media in New Delhi.
The government has come under criticism for its consistent
opposition, along with fellow emerging market heavyweight China, to
binding emission cuts in a new climate treaty.
Both countries say developed nations, particularly the United States,
should first present sufficient targets of their own.
India prides itself on having low per capita emissions - the average
Indian produces one tonne of carbon dioxide per year to the average
American's 20 tonnes - and has pledged not to let those rates exceed
those of developed nations.
But its huge population puts it among the world's leading emitters,
and Ramesh is under pressure ahead of the December conference in
Copenhagen, which is meant to seal a new international accord on
fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol's requirements expire
in 2012. NEW DELHI, Friday, AFP |